This invention relates, in general, to ground planes and, more particularly, to ground planes for microwave/millimeter wave devices and antennas.
Presently, many electrical devices or antenna circuits are mounted to a printed wire board (PWB) that is in turn mounted to a chassis. The chassis will often function as a ground for the circuits on the PWB. Often this mounting will cause the printed wire board to be buckled, or oil canned, thereby not providing an even ground throughout the device. For many electrical devices this is not a concern because of the low operating frequencies. However, in the microwave/millimeter wave area a constant, uniform ground is necessary for efficient operation of the devices. The oil canning, or buckling, can cause a poor, nonuniform ground to develop thereby degrading the performance of the circuits attached to the PWB.